3600w element - Boiling test

[neo__04]

Hey all,

Dialing in my new BM clone, running ardbir.

Had some trouble last week with a poor boil. Possible due to needing to up the boil temp on the controller.

Im doing a boil of test at the moment with 20l of water.

3600w element is boiling away, says 100.25 on the controller. Wont go any harder.

Its a gentle roll in the boil.

Im trying to set my boiling point on the controller so i get a harder boil.

How do i go about this? Eg. does it boil differently/harder with wort in there as the wort has a different SG/density?

How should 3600w behave with 20l of water?

 

[roller997]

You should get a good boil.
I get a good boil with a 3000 watt element for an insulated urn and 50 liters of wort
A non insulated urn with 2400 watt element brings 30 liters of water to a boil.
Was there anything burnt onto the element that might have inhibited the element?

 

[Crouch]

When I built my electric brewery a lot of stuff I read said you wont get the same boil comparing water to wort ... wort seems to boil harder (more vigorously) than water ... I'd say you'd be fine.

 

[Maheel]

3600 in 20L should be a pretty big boil i reckon

 

[neo__04]

Its a craftbrewer 100l pot. Certainly boils the quantity no worries. Just thought it would boil harder.

I guess it got a big surface area. 600mm across.

I just boiled 20 litres for 60 mins and was left with 13.2l.

I guess its doing it job. I think i just need to up the boil off temp to get it going a bit harder when there is wort in there and see how it goes

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

44% evaporation is way too much, you need to dumb it down to 15-20%.
Less boil= less heat stressed wort = better more stable beer.

 

[neo__04]

Well that was just a water test.

Might just do another run on the Bm clone and measure everything to work out where my problems might be.

 

[TheWiggman]

I've got OBS's 3600W element and I can tell you it goes ape **** on 30l of wort. Next brewery upgrade is a controller.
I've made decent beers so far (mostly) and there's nothing in them that I would attribute to the rigorous boil. 20l though is pushing it, I'm confident you'll want to wind it down once you do a brew.
I should also add the 3600W element is a fine bit of kit. Certainly can't upgrade that.

 

[lael]

What diameter is your pot wiggman?

Neo I find that with a 45cm (craftbrewer) pot a single 2400w element will take a very long time to get up to 98 but I won't get much past there unless You do the old float a pie tin trick.

I'm not sure what the boiloff over an hour is, but it is still decent.

 

[TheWiggman]

Action shot for you. Bloody hell this smells good.

 

[neo__04]

Im pretty confused now.

Just started to boil 27 litres of wort, 100l craftbrewer pot, 600mm across, 3600w element.

I put it on manual to rule out any weirdness with the automatic settings on ardbir.

It came up to a nice hard boil fairly quickly, got to 101.5 and was going fairly hard so i dropped the temp a couple of clicks, its now on around 100.5 and wont go any harder.
just a slight roll in the boil.

Is there any PID control to the heating element in manual with Ardbir? Is it on or off, or on but pid is still thinking in the background?

Something doesnt seem right.

 

[lael]

Yeah, there is a temp setting for the boil - in unit config. So it is prob maintaining that temp - which might be set to 100.5. Which i would imagine is vigorous enough, but sounds like you want a cauldron like boil

 

[TheWiggman]

Bear in mind depending on your altitude the temperature of the boil isn't going to change. Unless it's in a pressurised vessel, it'll go to ~100°C and no higher.

 

[neo__04]

yeah i know about the boil temp in the settings.

But im wondering if there is any pid control of the heater in manual.

As long as its boiling i guess it doesnt matter. I just expected more.

Ill see how the brews go

 

[lael]

I assume you've got it set above 100.5 then ?